


if i can only save you

by Darkwhitepebble



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura & Lance (Voltron) are Siblings, Altean Lance (Voltron), Altean Prince Lance (Voltron), Blade of Marmora Keith (Voltron), Blue Paladin Lance (Voltron), Bodyguard Keith (Voltron), Galra Keith (Voltron), Galtean AU, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith's Wolf is best boi, Krolia (Voltron) is a Good Parent, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Red Paladin Keith (Voltron), Sentient Voltron Lions, Ulaz (Voltron) Lives, Voltron is still a thing, i love kosmo so much, klance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:02:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28228845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkwhitepebble/pseuds/Darkwhitepebble
Summary: "I love you."But before Lance can even begin, even start to process that, he's being pushed forward and shoved into something. He hears the hiss of a lid closing, and when he looks up, he sees Keith through a blue-tinted frame. His eyes widen.The last thing he sees before the darkness takes him is Keith reaching up, pulling up his hood, and activating the mask that would hide him in a crowd, that would make him as indistinguishable as the next Blade of Mamora....When Lance wakes up, it is with the sudden knowledge that Keith is dead....Right?
Relationships: Allura & Coran & Hunk & Keith & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt & Shiro, Allura & Keith (Voltron), Allura & Lance (Voltron), Keith & Lance (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 53





	1. Chapter 1

Red lights.

Everything was bathed in a shade of red. The cool blue of the castle lights, the highlights of the doors, the colors of the arches around had long since disappeared. This wasn't the time for aesthetics, wasn't the time to even begin thinking it.

It was warm in the castle. Much, much warmer than normal. It was normally a cool, steady temperature up and down the walls. So much so that the occupants sometimes complained about coldness. Now, the heat was gently dropping onto shoulders like an unwelcomed blanket, something meant to be a comfort but ending up as nothing more than a hindrance.

That's how he feels, sometimes. Just like the heat of the halls. 

" _Report,_ " they growl into their earpiece. And then they still, and their expression pales and they look like the world is going to start collapsing and raining debris onto their heads. It wouldn't be a wrong assumption, at this point. It most likely will start sometime in the next varga. 

" _Vreshith,_ " they curse, shaking their head and flicking one ear on the side. The red lights reflect off of their glossy, smooth black hair, curling outwards at the nape of their neck with the fringe falling partially into their face. 

They're beautiful, he realizes. No, not realizes, he's always known somewhere deep inside of him. But he's never given the time of the quintant to those kinds of thoughts. It's only now that he lets them flow through his mind freely. 

He doesn't have much time left to think about them anymore.

They- _he -_ turns to him, purple eyes practically glimmering. They look like they hold tiny cosmos inside of them, he thinks distantly. The white dots are stars interspersed, the ever-changing hues of the purple the surrounding cosmos. 

"We need to go," he says, reaching out and grabbing his hand. He's strong, very clearly strong, his lean and toned muscles visible through his suit; but with him, his grip is also so gentle, so fragile. Tender.

He's never acknowledged it, but he's always known.

"Did you hear me?" he asks, tone softening. "we need to get out of here."

But then he can hear the sound of the earpiece faintly crackling to life, sees the way he stills and his pupils shrink, eyes widening. His sclera are yellow, and even they seem to pale at whatever news he has just received. His huge, purple ears flatten to either side of his head, and his breath catches. Slowly, he turns that terrified gaze over to him, surveying him up and down. 

They stay suspended for a moment in their own little bubble of time, oblivious to everything around them. Then he blinks, and the moment is over. He turns abruptly, moving swiftly down the hall and taking him with him. 

"Change of plans," he says, but his voice catches in his throat on one of the words. _He's scared,_ he realizes. Terrified of something, of anything. But determined, if going by the set of his shoulders and the way he walks. 

He is helpless to follow, tracing his frame with his eyes because he has a feeling he won't get that opportunity anymore. He has a feeling this might be one of their final interactions. He has to make it count; he has to burn his imprint, burn his shape into his eyes, burn the sound of his voice in his eyes, burn the feel of their hands together into his skin so he can never forget. 

"Allura will be there shortly," he says, and he realizes they are heading for the control room. He doesn't know why, but he won't hesitate to follow him. He knows with him, he'll be safe. 

The two of them walk straight into the control room, and he frowns as he sees his father standing there. He looks torn, scared, and he can't see Allura in the room. He's worried, but that doesn't stop them.

He salutes briefly. "King Alfor."

Alfor nods in greeting. "Keith."

And then he is sweeping out of the room, leaving the two of them alone. Keith swallows, adam's apple bobbing as he walks over and taps a screen. There is a hissing sound, and he spots a pod for cryostasis emerging from the floor.

He frowns as Keith tugs him over to it, finally stopping and pulling back against the grip. Keith doesn't force him forward, and they end up stopping a few feet away from the pod. He turns to look at him. 

"Keith," he starts. "what are you doing?"

Keith looks so torn, so scared, so _small_ , that it makes him almost regret the question. Almost. He still doesn't know where Allura is, and he needs to figure that out quickly. He can't leave his sister behind. 

Keith tries to tug him forward again, but he plants his feet, squares his shoulders, and looks him straight in the eye. Determination hardens his edges as he stares. "I'm not doing anything until you tell me what is going on here."

But instead, there is wetness lining Keith's eyes, and that makes him falter because he's never seen Keith cry. Not once. Not when his mother died, not when his father died, not when he was stabbed in the abdomen protecting him. 

And as he is opening his mouth, brow furrowed with worry, about to ask what is wrong, Keith is tugging him forward with further strength. He tenses as he finds himself right up against the Galran, confused as he feels arms around his shoulders.

He's- he's _hugging_ him. Not knowing what else to do, he raises his arms to tenderly hug him back. His face is resting in the space where his shoulder meets his neck, and all he can smell is that strange scent of fire and mountain air and pines that is so _Keith._

"Lance," he chokes out, and his shoulders shake as he buries his nose in Lance's white hair. Holds him even tighter, as if he could cover him with nothing more than his body and become his shield. 

"Keith?" he questions after a moment. 

Keith is holding even tighter, before suddenly letting him go. He pulls back, looking up at the tear-stained face in front of him. Lance reaches up with his hands, cupping the sides of his face and using his thumb to try and brush away the tears. It just leaves room for more to fall. 

" _Lance,"_ he shakes, before suddenly moving forward before he can react. There is the softest brush of lips on his forehead, the softest breath tickling his face before he's pulling back and reaching out for something. " _I love you._ "

But before Lance can even begin, even _start_ to process that, he's being pushed forward and shoved into something. He hears the hiss of a lid closing, and when he looks up, he sees Keith through a blue-tinted frame. His eyes widen. 

The last thing he sees before the darkness takes him is Keith reaching up, pulling up his hood, and activating the mask that would hide him in a crowd, that would make him as indistinguishable as the next Blade of Mamora. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i really only published this so it wouldn't vanish from my drafts, but if people want to read more then i can keep writing it?


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But then the strange haired human with the white tuft in front of his face is frowning, looking deep in thought, then looking up and asking for their names. There is something shifty about his gaze, something Lance doesn't quite trust. He doesn't know whether or not to trust these people with his name, doesn't know whether or not to take the gamble. He shares a glance with his sister, and they nod. 

Shiro considered himself a wanderer. 

Someone who didn't find himself tied down in one particular place. Adam would always roll his eyes fondly, nudge his shoulder with a small smile, and then they would move on. Adam wasn't a homebody, so much as a river. He flowed with the direction of the winds, forever chasing after Shiro. 

He misses that, he realizes. More than he can ever put into words. He misses the eye rolls, the elbowing, the knowing smiles, the exchange of looks that could hold entire conversations with nothing but body language. 

He misses Adam. 

He wonders, briefly, if he'll ever find him again. 

He wishes, longs, wants it more than anything else. He wants to be able to look at Adam, to drop to his knees and beg for forgiveness. To tell him he loves him so much and he'll never travel away again; he'll never leave his side.

But he can always see it play out. He can see Adam look at him with a weary smile, one eye curved up with exhaustion. He can hear his voice, still tinged with fondness. " _Oh Takashi, we both know that's not true._ "

He's tired, more than anything. His eyes keep drooping and threatening to close, to let him slip back into a sleep filled with nightmares and fitful dreams of Adam and the Garrison, of Matt and Sam. 

" _I know you just got a new arm, but you need to stay awake,_ " a voice hisses, filled with static and floating in and out of his focus. He wants to focus; tries with squinting and turning his head, but it just sends a wave of nausea through his body, so he stops trying. 

" _I'm going to get you out of here, and you need to find Voltron and assemble the paladins. Make it to Altea. Find and Allura and L-"_ the mystery voice catches on the first syllable, before it audibly swallows. " _Lance."_

Shiro squints, tries to focus again. It still doesn't work. But he manages to slur his voice into something that could be distinguishable through intense focus and a need to communicate. 

" _Who- areeeee you?"_ he stumbles.

They don't answer immediately, and he realizes there are things happening to his body. It feels colder- like it's missing something. Like something has been removed from it, and he doesn't know how to feel about that. 

He feels his gravity dropping and rising, his balance shifting, his equilibrium struggling to adjust. He is leaning heavily on something, and he can feel his body moving forward, mostly with the support of this foreign object. 

As he tunes more into his surroundings, he hears the wail of sirens and can make out a faint red tinge to his world. It fades in and out, though, so he can't tell if it's real or a product of whatever he was on. 

They walk for a while, and then he's being sat somewhere and someone is placing things over his body. They don't feel constricting though. Rather, a bit on the safe side. Like something meant to protect him. He can hear beeping and strange noises in front of him. 

" _Listen, you must listen to me._ " 

Something is grabbing his chin, tilting his head and forcing him to look up. He still can't open his eyes, but he makes a hard effort to listen to whatever it is this person is trying to tell him. He feels like it would be important. 

" _You need to find and unite Voltron. You need to find Allura and Lance on Altea. When you do, you need to take them to the coordinates I am loading into your arm. Hey, listen- tell them 'Blade of Marmora'. Got it?"_

He thinks he manages a nod, but he can't be sure. 

" _Good luck."_

* * *

When Lance awakens, it is with the sudden knowledge that Keith is dead. 

He is on his castle with his sister, and a strange group of three aliens from a distant planet quite literally named after 'dirt'. Though, many different people have many different customs, so he is not one to judge. Coran is there, and he is as suspicious as them of the newcomers. 

" _10,000 years."_

The world is tilting, shifting under his axis and collapsing. He's- he's been asleep for _ten thousand years._ Keith has been- has been- _dead_. For ten thousand years. While he slept in comfort in cryostasis. 

He almost breaks down in tears. 

But then the strange haired human with the white tuft in front of his face is frowning, looking deep in thought, then looking up and asking for their names. There is something shifty about his gaze, something Lance doesn't quite trust. He doesn't know whether or not to trust these people with his name, doesn't know whether or not to take the gamble. He shares a glance with his sister, and they nod. 

"I'm _Lutiero_." _Loo-tee-air-oh_. He gestures to his sister. "And this is _Aphastra_ , my sister." _Ah-fee-stuh-ruh_.

Thank gods he still has his translator outfitted, and as soon as he heard the planet name it loaded itself with the language. It's a comforting feeling, knowing that the tech is still working after all this time. 

"And I'm Coran!" 

Quiznak, Coran. 

Lance looked up and sent him a look, but the orange-haired man brushed it off like it didn't exist and kept going on with his life, bringing up the systems for the castles. There was a soft whir as a report came onto the screen, and he pauses in minute horror. 

"Coran?" Allura questions, one eyebrow raised.

Coran swallows. "We're the only ones left on Altea. Everyone else- they're gone."

Lance is-

Lance is sitting, he thinks. No- no, not sitting. Kneeling, and someone- _Allura_ is holding him. He's vaguely aware of noise in the background, in his ears, but he can't make it out. Couldn't hear anything but him.

_"We need to go. Do you hear me? We need to get out of here."_

Lance squeezed his eyes tight, pulling his sister closer, hugging her and hiding his face because _Keith was dead._ He was gone, leaving him behind. He had left to fight a war that shouldn't have included him. 

And Lance was still here, alive in this pathetic life.

* * *

Pidge was a little confused, and a little more suspicious.

A giant blue lion stole Hunk, Shiro, and her from planet Earth, brought them to some Altean castle where it's occupants are allegedly ten thousand years old, and one of them is currently on the floor holding his sister in a death grip. 

And, again, giant blue robot lion. She might need a little bit of an explanation on that one. And the other four replicas of them? That are supposed to form a giant multi-colored lion?

And this Blue Lion didn't even respond to them! It just scooped them up in its jaw and left! 

The nerve of some lions.

Eventually, Aphastra looked up at them, and she had that expression, that one that said _you make fun of him you die._ So, guess laughing off the entire situation was tossed off the table. 

"Who are you?" She asked.

"I'm Shiro, and this is Hunk and Pidge." Shiro, ever the diplomat said, gesturing with his hand to the others.

Aphastra narrowed her eyes. "Why do you have a Galran prosthetic for an arm?"

Shiro blinked, then looked down at his arm, and back up again, a helpless look on his face. "I don't- I don't know. I was- these Galran? I was a prisoner on a ship, and I- I-" he seemed to remember something extremely important. "I need to find Lance."

Aphastra stood, bringing her quiet brother with her. "What do you want with Lance?"

Shiro shook his head. "I need to find Lance and Allura."

Aphastra angled her brother away from them, protectiveness in the angles of her body. "What would you need with them?"

"I have a-a message," Shiro said.

"Well," Aphastra looked away. "I would likely be able to help you look for them if I was so inclined."

Shiro nodded. "Please."

"Coran," Aphastra said, looking at the orange-haired man. "Keep them occupied. I'll be back."

And then she had vanished from the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tell me what you're thinking?


End file.
